green papayas

A girl in class tapped me on the shoulder today and asked "Can you speak Vietnamese?" Startled, I replied with a "Yes," almost followed by "And are you stalking me?"

I know, me and my megalomania issues.

"Can you read and write it too? Like, literature?" chirped this petite girl behind her dark, all encompassing glasses that circumscribed her face most unflatteringly. I'm not quite sure what about her made me recoiled, maybe it was the florescent lighting that bleached her face, or the inquisitively darting eyes floating on a sea of teeth she kept flashing repeatedly. Her effervesence was spilling over onto my seat, dangerously close to my rumbling discontent, left over from this morning's run-in with the exam from hell. I distrust happy people.

"Um well, yes. I can read and write Vietnamese..." I hesitated before she rudely interrupted me. "Oh, so like are you a first generation immigrant?" I paused, contemplating her use of this very politically correct, sociologically accurate description. I was expecting something more coarse, like "so when did you get off the boat?", my mind in gear to protest the banal and stereotypical assertion it had concocted. No, she's too smart for that, and I, too ready to be offended. "Like, were you born there?" She thought I didn't understand her the first time around.

"Yes. I came here when I was 10." I declared.
"Oh, see, I was 4." She remarked quickly, pausing, then resumed darting her tongue. "Oh wow, you couldn't tell I was Vietnamese, not from my last name?"
I pounced quickly, feeling gleeful for having caught her off guard. "No, I don't notice these things. What is your last name?" I felt like telling her that not everyone looks for others of their 'kind' on the roster.
That was cruel. She was only trying to make rapport. Could I blame her for seeking sameness, maybe friends? I admonished myself.
"Um, so, are you from around here?" I asked in a gentler tone.
"No, I'm from Northern California." She stated.
I shoot. I miss. The ball's back in her court.
"Uh huh..." I continued the conversation, asking her about the New England weather, where she went to school. She's incredibly sharp: tongue, eyes, mind, a Smith graduate with a fiance. Now I felt safe.

She mentioned some movie she saw in Thailand. "It's called something 'Green Papayas'. It's by a Vietnamese American director, supposed to be really seminal. I didn't like it..." She was fishing for dialogue too.
'Well why are you telling me to watcht it then?' My internal monologue droned on.
"I don't know, you could check it out." She laughed awkwardly.
"Oh, um, sure. Maybe I'll look it up sometime. Thanks!" I hurriedly sped in front of the line. Class was over. I wanted to leave. She waved back, also awkwardly.

I'm so bad with strangers.